LETTERS: ASSIST HELPS PREVENT TEEN SMOKING

To the editor:

In response to the question, "What do you think the federal government should do to fight teen-age smoking," in the Southeast Missourian June 30, it appeared many are residents may view peer pressure as a major factor in starting and see education as a major key to reducing teen tobacco use. Today there is not only an increase in teens' use of cigarettes, but also use of snuff and some types of cigars.

Admittedly, for some parents it is certainly frustrating to see kids, who during the fifth grade make a rational promise to never use tobacco, lighting up on a regular basis only a couple of years later. Perhaps a combination of child and parental education emphasizing the ill effects of tobacco, resisting peer pressure and demystifying tobacco as an adult pleasure would tend to offset some of the recent increases in teen tobacco use. Assisting teens to delay their decision to use tobacco until a later age can help them avoid a lifetime of addiction. It is often observed that those who do not smoke by age 19 never start.

However, when kids who start using at a young age eventually see the overwhelming logical reasons against smoking outweigh their pro-smoking emotional counterparts, it may not be easy for them to quit. Emotional tugs urging youths to smoke often include peer pressure, rites of passage into adulthood, opposition to adult authority and cleverly designed advertising programs. The pro-smoking emotional tugs in the advertising media further suggest smoking is both widely practiced by adventurous, happy and romantic adults and is acceptable in mainstream American culture. In reality, neither is true.

Missouri ASSIST, a federally funded intervention project to reduce tobacco use, promotes cancer prevention and offers literature, information and speakers for classrooms, organizations and other groups interested in reducing tobacco use. Currently, ASSIST has materials such as coloring and activity books which promote a nonsmoking lifestyle. Those interested in further information pertaining to tobacco-related issues may contact the ASSIST office in Cape Girardeau at 651-0540.

JERRELL DRIVER

Cape Girardeau